Killing of elderly women

The work I present is a good example of gender in the media because the problem of killing the elderly, especially women, is one of the actions that are gender based violence. The problem has been there for a number of years without a proper solution.

For example in Lusu Ward in Nzega District, Tabora region during the period of January to December last year (2013) nine elderly people were killed in an association with superstitious beliefs.

It is gender based violence, since many elderly people killed for superstitious beliefs have red eyes and most of them are women. For African women, including in Tanzania, it is normal to have red eyes due to the fact that the energy used for cooking is firewood.
In addition, despite superstitious beliefs, the killings are also linked with the issue of property ownership, especially for older women who have married into polygamy and have assets like livestock and land. If her husband is dead, relatives of the deceased conspire to make a plot to kill the widow, to inherit the said assets.
These actions are a violation of human rights and gender based violence and sexual abuse against women and deny women the opportunity to own property.
Poor social services especially health and lack of health education, has also contributed to the killing of the elderly. This is due to the fact that, when a sick person is treated by traditional healers instead of going to heath centre, they are told they are bewitched and the ones who are linked to bewitching people are the elderly. Therefore, the family builds resentment against the elders plotting to kill them.

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